NOVEL NEXT Chapter 261: God Wei
After fielding questions from over a dozen students, Wang Ye spoke to the students below:
"Alright, if we keep asking questions, I feel like we won't be able to leave until it's dark. Let's wrap up the Q&A here for today."
Once these words were spoken by Wang Ye,
students who had yet to pose their questions seemed somewhat regretful.
Noticing a sense of loss in the students below after he spoke, Wang Ye didn't want to dampen their enthusiasm, so he addressed them:
"Later on, I'll open a Q&A column on Weibo. If any of you still have questions, you can reach out to me there, and I will answer each one of them."
"Okay!"
The students' mood improved slightly upon hearing Wang Ye's words.
Then,
it was time for the unveiling ceremony after Jiu Xinghong had made a summary of the meeting.
If it were any other unveiling ceremony, the students would generally head back to their dormitories without being prompted by the school.
Even though it was already four or five in the afternoon, the summer sun was still blazing hot.
However,
because Wang Ye was there, the students still followed him even during the unveiling ceremony.
Walking shoulder to shoulder with Jiu Xinghong, Wang Ye looked back at the students following behind them in droves. Jiu Xinghong smiled at Wang Ye, saying, "Honestly, I've never seen them so passionate about something before."
"This is a first."
"You're not a celebrity, yet you're so popular with the students. You're the only one I've seen reach this extent."
"That's not bad," Wang Ye said with a smile, "Although I don't advocate treating me like a star, I'm just an ordinary person after all."
"But, if this can ignite their interest in studying, then that's not a bad thing after all."
Next,
Wang Ye, Jiu Xinghong, and other college leaders participated in the unveiling ceremony for the College of Traditional Chinese Medicine.
After the unveiling ceremony,
Jiu Xinghong received a phone call, then turned to Wang Ye saying, "Wang Ye, Swan City College of Engineering is asking if you want to have dinner together tonight."
"Have dinner together?"
Wang Ye looked at Jiu Xinghong strangely.
In Wang Ye's perspective, his visit this time was as the honorary dean of the College of Traditional Chinese Medicine at Swan City College of Social Administration.
At this point, Swan City College of Engineering inviting him to dinner didn't seem quite appropriate.
Seeing Wang Ye's confusion, Jiu Xinghong explained:
"The College of Engineering indeed wants to meet you as well. Given your expertise in Traditional Chinese Medicine and your fame online, if you could give a lecture at their school, it would no doubt have a positive impact."
"After all, the college entrance exams are nearly finished, and recruitment is upon us."
"You giving a lecture at their school would be a good promotional touchpoint."
Wang Ye stared at Jiu Xinghong.
He had a hunch that Jiu Xinghong was withholding some reasons.
The two universities, being adjacent to each other, one being a college and the other being a university, didn't actually compete for students in terms of recruitment.
However, Wang Ye had a feeling that if Jiu Xinghong went to the trouble of asking him directly, there might be other reasons involved.
Seeing Wang Ye continuing to stare at him, Jiu Xinghong knew that Wang Ye had sensed something.
Smiling at Wang Ye, he said, "Indeed, their school also had a lecturer come today, Wei Dongyi."
"Wei Dongyi?"
When Wang Ye heard these three words, information about Wei Dongyi surfaced in his mind.
Wei Dongyi had recently become an internet sensation, christened by netizens as "Tsinghua University's sweeping monk," "God Wei."
Although he seemed unremarkable in appearance and even stuttered a bit, in reality, he was a genius in mathematics.
Wang Ye was quite interested in talents like Wei Dongyi.
"So you mean you want both schools to merge their respective invites to the lecturers into one meeting tonight to get to know Wei Dongyi, to see if he could also come to give a lecture at our school and help us promote it as well?"
Upon hearing that Wei Dongyi was giving a lecture at the neighboring school, Wang Ye immediately figured out the rationale and asked Jiu Xinghong.
"Right, that's the plan,"
Jiu Xinghong didn't deceive Wang Ye and directly admitted it.
"Okay, no problem."
Wang Ye patted Jiu Xinghong's shoulder and said meaningfully, "In the future, just lay things out straight when you have something to say."
"I don't like it when people hide facts from me while asking me to do things; it annoys me even if I agree."
"I understand."
Jiu Xinghong listened to Wang Ye.
And hastily responded.
...
That evening.
Swan Hotel.
Wang Ye, Jiu Xinghong, and other school leaders arrived early at the room they had reserved at the Swan Hotel.
They had barely sat down
when the leaders from Swan City College of Engineering came in with Wei Dongyi.
The moment he entered the private room,
Wei Dongyi saw Wang Ye and walked over to him.
As Wei Dongyi approached, Wang Ye observed him.
Just like on the internet,
Wei Dongyi's attire was unremarkable. To those unaware of Wei Dongyi's identity, seeing him dressed like this might even lead them to believe he was a disheveled, aimless youth who never left his rented room.
His hair was somewhat disorganized, yet his eyes radiated intelligence, as if they contained endless creative thoughts and boundless intellect.
While Wang Ye was sizing up Wei Dongyi, Wei Dongyi had already come up to Wang Ye and greeted him, "Hello, Wang Ye, I'm Wei Dongyi. I've seen your work online, and I greatly admire your research in Traditional Chinese Medicine. I too am interested in TCM and have done some research."
When Wei Dongyi greeted Wang Ye, his speech was still slightly stammering,
but one could feel the sincerity in his words as he spoke.
"Hello, Wei Dongyi, I'm Wang Ye. I've also seen your information online. I have great respect for your research in mathematics. I am also interested in math and have done some research."
Wang Ye greeted Wei Dongyi in the same manner he had been greeted, only changing Wei Dongyi's word "admire" to "respect."
The others in the room, upon hearing Wang Ye's greeting to Wei Dongyi, looked at Wang Ye somewhat strangely when they noticed the two altered words.
The shift from "admire" to "respect" changed the implication of the message.
Generally speaking, to admire suggests a sense of inferiority to the other.